MET’s Blueshield Games bring out the best in students

Wednesday 5th July, 2017

It was a beautiful day on
Friday June 23rd when MET’s Blueshield Games were held in NSW in
three different regions. It was not only an opportunity for the different
OneSchool houses to compete against each other, but a great time to catch up
with old friends and make new ones, too.

With house points up for
grabs, the students from the Troopers, Warriors and Raiders threw themselves
enthusiastically into the events that included netball, volleyball, soccer,
touch football, basketball and handball. Students were divided into primary,
junior and secondary competitions.

Northern Region
The Northern Region event was held in Tamworth at two venues – the Tamworth
Sports Dome and the Riverside/Gipps st playing fields.

More than 180 students from
Year 3 through to Year 12 participated in the various events with the Raiders
just pipping the Warriors at the post by 124 points to 123. It couldn’t have
been a more exciting finish.

CA Management Team member
from Armidale, Ben Firth, said the students had a great time and represented
their houses with aplomb. “I loved the team spirit and application of all students,” he
said. “In particular, the primary boys were presented with a minor dilemma when
only two students from the Troopers were present on the day and they couldn’t
field a team. The boys happily combined with the Warriors and attacked all
games with gusto – a fine example of sportsmanship. Maximum effort was the
order of the day.”

All
the students played fair and a special mention goes to the MVPs best and
fairest on the day. From primary they were Romain Draffin and Angie Ovenden,
from the junior competition they were Gareth Sanderson and Tammy Scott, while
in the seniors they were Jerry Heaney and Bronte Craddock.

Western
RegionThe Westen Region’s Blueshield games were
held at the Young Police Citizens Youth Club and was the inaugural event for the
regional NSW including the clusters from Lachlan Macquarie and Riverina.

There were 342 students who entered the
events and although competition was fierce and fast, it was played in good spirits.
Students participated in round robins between the three
houses in the stages, for example Years 3-4 students, for a total of 9 rounds
played per stage.

All three houses did very well with
less than 40 points separating them after a day’s competition. The Raiders took
out the win with 282 points following by the Troopers on 264 and Warriors on
246.

CA
Management Team member from South Campus Nathan Jackson was not only impressed
with the effort on the field but also how good it all came together. “It was awesome
to see the enthusiasm of all the students and just how much they enjoyed the
day,” he said. “The fact there were so many students from seven different
campuses attending was incredible achievement from the professional staff. I
think we had a statistic mentioned on the day that students had come from an
area of 180,000 square kilometers.”

The effort was reflected by the
comments of some of the teachers and Regional Principal Patrick McGing.

“What a great day,” said Patrick.
“The students will remember BSG 17 and one day they will contribute to
community building.”

“It’s days like this that me truly
appreciate my job,” said Orange Campus PDHPE teacher Chris Walsh. “It is days like today that the students will remember and
talk about when they reflect on positive days in their educational journey.

A special mention goes to Almanzo Teiffel from the Raiders who was the overall
Best and Fairest for the day, scoring 15 best and fairest points for his
efforts.

Central RegionThe University of Wollongong was the venue for the Central Region’s
Blueshield games where it created a fantastic backdrop with its excellent
facilities for both indoor and outdoor fields.

Just over 420 students from Years 7 to 12 lined up to play the games
complimented by 80 teachers from four campuses, and with 250 parents and
grandparents there to cheer them on.

It was a very close competition, so
much so that at the end of the day the Raiders and Warriors were tied 122
points each. Using a count back system the Raiders were declared the winners.

CA Management Team member from the
Illawarra Campus, Jon Arnot, thought it was a fantastic day and praised the
efforts of participants.

“Congratulations
to everyone involved; from the referees, scorers, field supervisors, team
coaches, caterers, first aid officers, bus drivers and the whole Community,” he
said. “This event would not have been such a success without them.”